CROATIA'S DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER VISITS SERB-OCCUPIED VUKOVAR

VUKOVAR, June 2 (Hina) - Croatia's Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Kostovic visited the Serb-occupied eastern town of Vukovar on Tuesday where he held closed-door talks with the UN Transitional Administrator for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srijem, US General Jacques Klein. Kostovic told reporters that the talks focused on preparations for return of Croatian refugees to the region. The Croatian government had earmarked nearly 500,000 kuna (about DM 140,000) for pilot programmes to return 15,593 Croatian refugees to Bilje, Antunovac, Ceric, Marinci, Lipovac and Tovarnik where 85 per cent of residential and commercial buildings had been damaged, he said. Klein announced that he would raise the issue of imprisoned and missing persons next time he visited Belgrade. The two officials arranged for a Croatian parliament delegation to visit Vukovar soon. The talks also focused on border crossings between Croatia, Hungary and Yugoslavia, particularly on technical issues concerning the deployment of Croatian border police and customs officers and the introduction of Croatian state insignia. It was agreed that a border crossing at Udvar, towards Hungary, would be opened first. Earlier on, Kostovic had visited the nearby villages of Negoslavci, Orolik, Djeletovci, Nijemci, Podgrade, Apsevci and Lipovac. In Djeletovci, he met the commander of the UN Jordanian Battalion which was caring for several elderly people in the village and about 70 people in the area under its control who needed medical attention. Kostovic toured oil installations at Djeletovci and saw a devastated administration building and 71 mined oil wells. (hina) vm 022001 MET jul 96